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What is microsimulation and why do we use it?
Originally envisioned by the American economist Guy Orcutt in 1957, microsimulation models have become widely used within economics, and are increasingly used in public and population health and other fields to model the outcomes of government policy. While more complex and requiring more data than simpler arithmetic and representative agent models, microsimulation models use individual-level […]
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Unpicking the headlines: Cancer, obesity and Boris
Two news stories dominated the headlines this week – Cancer Research UK (CRUK) rolling out a new campaign linked with their findings that obesity is now the leading risk factor for four cancers and Conservative leadership candidate Boris Johnson calling for a review and potential roll-back of ‘sin taxes’, in particular those measures designed to alter consumer food environments.